A.—No. 1

44

DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OF NEW

Government was prepared, under certain conditions, to reckon as military contributions all sums shown to be expended in a manner approved by the Governor on Native Government or other purely Native objects, in excess of twenty-six thousand pounds. In September, 1862, after the receipt of this last Despatch, the General Assembly passed the " Native Purposes Appropriation Act, 1862," which granted, from the 30th June, 1862, to the 30th day of June, 1865, a contribution of five pounds (£5) a head towards the expenses of the Queen's forces supplied for tho defence of the Colony; and also the yearly sum of nineteen thousand ponnds (in addition to seven thousand pounds for Native purposes in the Civil List, 1858,) "to be expended for Native purposes in such manner as the Governor shall direct." In commenting on this Act, the Duke of Newcastle, in his Despatch No. 23, of the 26th February, 1863, — '' Observes with pleasure that the Native Appropriation Act appropriates to Native purposes £7000 more than the minimum expenditure required by the Imperial Government," and he suggests some technical alterations in the wording of the Act, which the Legislature forthwith agreed to. On the 19th of August, 1862, the House of Eepresentatives resolved : " That in the opinion of this House the relations between His Excellency the Governor and his Eesponsible Advisers should rest upon the following basis : — " That Ministers should, in conformity with the Eoyal instructions, advise the Governor in Native affairs (as well as in Colonial affairs) whenever His Excellency desires to obtain such advice, and should also tender such advice on all occasions of importauce when they deem it their duty in the interests of the Colony to do so." " That Ministers should, at His Excellency's request, undertake the administration of Native affairs, reserving to His Excellency the decision in all matters of Native policy." " That, as the decision, in all matters of Native policy, is with His Excellency, the advice of Ministers shall not be held to bind the Colony to any liability, past or future, in connection with Native affairs beyond the amount authorized or to be authorized by the House of Eepresentatives." On the 6th November, 1863, the House of Eepresentatives resolved:— " That this House, having had under its consideration the Despatch of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated the 26th February, 1863, conveying the final determination of Her Majesty's Imperial Government to revoke the arrangement of 1856, and for the future to require the Colonists to undertake the responsibility of the management of Native affairs, recognizes with the deepest gratitude the great interest which Her Most Gracious Majesty has always taken in the welfare of all races of Her Colonial subjects, and the thoroughly efficient aid which Her Majesty's Imperial Government is now affording for the suppression of the rebellion unhappily existing, and the establishment of law and order in the Colony. " And, relying on the cordial co-operation of the Imperial Government for the future, cheerfully accepts the responsibility thus placed upon the Colonists, and at the same time records its firm determination to use its best endeavours to secure a sound and lasting peace ; to do justice impartially to both races of Her Majesty's subjects, and to promote the civilization and welfare of all classes of the inhabitants of these islands." In the interval between those two dates, the 19th August, 1862, and the 6th November, 1863, — during which the General Assembly, being in recess, had no opportunity of giving its opinion in the matter —the Imperial force stationed in the Colony was doubled, a wide spread insurrection of the Natives had taken place, and a military campaign had been actively entered into, the result of which has already involved the Colony in an expenditure for military purposes of between three and four million pounds sterling. A very large proportion of this expenditure was gratuitously incurred by the Colony in furnishing a most costly steam transport, to enable the Commissariat to suppy the Imperial troops in the AVaikato, who must otherwise have been supplied at the cost of the British Treasury ; the Colony also lent to the Imperial Transport Service numbers of the men raised and paid by it, (at one time nearly 1500 men) and has maintained to the present time a very large naval force employed in operations which would otherwise have to be paid for from the Imperial Treasury chest, which has been correspondingly relieved. The above, amongst many others, are instances, if such were wanting, of the very liberal, indeed, almost unrestricted manner in which the Colony has spent its money in contributing towards the maintenance of the Imperial troops. In May, 1864, a negotiation was initiated between the Secretary of State (Mr. Cardwell) and the Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand, then in England, with respect to obtaining an Imperial guarantee to the Loan of £3,000,000, which the Colony required to raise to enable it to meet the expenses referred to above, which would otherwise have fallen on the Imperial Treasury. Out of this negotiation has arisen the present Imperial claim for a Colonial contribution of £40 a head for infantry soldiers, and £55 a head for artillerymen stationed in the Colony. If a careful consideration is given to the origin and growth of this claim, Ministers cannot believe that it will be maintained. In the letter of Sir Frederick Sogers to the Colonial Treasurer, dated the 26th May, 1864, tho following passages occur : —" lam directed to observe that Mr. Cardwell makes this offer to you as the Finance Minister of New Zealand, in the confident expectation and belief that the recent successes of the Queen's Forces, and of the Colonial Militia and Volunteers, will have placed in the Governor's hands the power of securing a just and permanent peace, and that his own disposition, and the instructions which have been addressed to him from this department, will ensure his using that power for the early termination of the war. It is only under this conviction that the Secretary of State can undertake to submit this proposal to Parliament. " Her Majesty's Government feel themselves imperatively called upon to provide that if, under the New Zealand Government, to whom in ordinary times the management of Native affairs now almost exclusively belongs, the Colony shall again be involved in a civil war, the whole expense of the troops engaged in that war shall not fall upon the mother country." Again: " These measures they (the Imperial Government) regard as just measures of security